US Midterms: Mastriano Concedes Defeat in Pa. Gov. Race

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Facts

  • On Sunday, Pennsylvania Republican state Senator Doug Mastriano, who was endorsed by former Pres. Trump, issued a one-page statement conceding his defeat in the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race to AG Josh Shapiro, five days after the race was called.1
  • Mastriano received 2.2M votes of 41.9% to Shapiro’s 3M votes, which equaled 56.3%.2
  • Although he ran on social issues popular with the GOP, Mastriano’s attendance in DC at a rally on Jan. 6, 2021 reportedly cost him support from the mainstream of the party. He also alienated some voters by echoing Trump’s highly controversial claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.1
  • Mastriano wrote the results were “difficult to accept,” but he didn’t see a course other than concession. He urged his supporters to give Shapiro a chance to succeed and “pray that he leads well.”3
  • Although he didn’t question the results of his election, Mastriano did write that Pennsylvania is in “great need of election reform.” He went on to write, “We can and must do better to make our elections more transparent, secure, and more quickly decided.”3
  • Mastriano’s loss wasn’t the only one by a Trump-backed candidate in a high-profile Pennsylvania statewide race last week, as Dr. Mehmet Oz lost his bid for the US Senate to Lt. Gov. John Fetterman. The race flipped the Pennsylvania seat from Republican to Democrat.4

Sources: 1Reuters, 2Daily Wire, 3NBC and 4FOX News.

Narratives

  • Democratic narrative, as provided by Politico. What a great victory for democracy. First, many of the county’s biggest deniers of the 2020 election were outright rejected by voters in 2022. Second, their conspiracy theories turned out to be nothing more than bluster, as they all eventually conceded traditionally, even if it took Mastriano a few days longer than others.
  • Republican narrative, as provided by Washington Examiner. Mastriano might’ve been too far right to win a statewide election this time around. However, his campaign highlighted vital questions about the state’s election laws that must be reformed, and the GOP rallied around that issue. While continuing his role as a state Senator, he could help to reform that flawed system.